▪ I. authenticate, v.
(ɔːˈθɛntɪkeɪt)
[f. med.L. authenticā-re, authenticāt-, to make authentic, f. authentic-us; also in It. autenticare, Sp. autenticar, Fr. authentiquer.]
To make or prove authentic.
1. trans. and refl. To invest (a thing) with authority; to render authoritative.
| a 1733 North Lives II. 339 They want antiquity to authenticate their ceremonies. 1768 Blackstone Comm. I. 32 The Clementine constitutions..were..authenticated in 1317 by..John XXII. 1829 I. Taylor Enthus. iv. (1867) 80 Christianity authenticates the voice of conscience. |
2. To give legal validity to; to render valid, establish the validity of.
| 1653 Nissena 64 An Order from his Majesty, authenticated and sealed by his Kingly Seal. 1768 Blackstone Comm. I. 323 A tax..of service to the public in general, by authenticating instruments. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India i. ii. (1840) I. 63 They recommended, as the best mode of authenticating the privilege, that it should be incorporated in a fresh renewal of their charter. |
3. To establish the title to credibility and acceptance: a. of a statement, or b. of a reputed fact.
| a. 1654 Cokayne Dianea i. 15 Oleandro replied, he..could authenticate his Maximes by examples. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. ii. 135 To authenticate and make good his Hypothesis. 1856 Dove Logic Chr. Faith i. i. §2. 63 If the conclusion..is not authenticated by the real occurrence. |
| b. 1662 H. Stubbe Ind. Nectar ii. 13 Those ways, which are authenticated by Physicians. 1778 Robertson Hist. Amer. II. v. 60 Were not all the circumstances of this extraordinary transaction authenticated by the most unquestionable evidence. 1823 Lamb Elia (1860) 298 A room, which tradition authenticated to have been the same. |
4. To establish the claims of (anything) to a particular character or authorship; to establish the genuineness of; to certify the authorship of.
| 1852 Ld. Cockburn Jeffrey I. 285 We went through the whole work, authenticating all his papers. 1865 Grote Plato I. iv. 155 Aristophanes authenticates..not merely the Leges, but also the Epinomis, and the Epistolæ. |
b. with subord. clause.
| 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 535 The usual formula..with which the prophets authenticated, that they spake not of themselves, but by the Spirit of God. |
▪ II. † auˈthenticate, ppl. a. Obs. rare—1.
[ad. L. authenticāt-us: see prec.]
= authenticated.
| 1572 Schole House Wom. 862 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 138 The trueth is knowen, as in this case, By holy writ autenticate. |